With the massive number of planets that can be generated and visited in Starbound, some really great possibilities for this game are available. One of the best things in my mind, is that the game can be built for everyone without detracting from the gameplay for anyone. What I mean by this is that there is no lowest common denominator in player interests, intellect, gameplay style, etc... If one planet is designed to feature nonstop action and fighting with explosions and death everywhere, people who like that kind of gameplay can enjoy it and people who don't are missing out on anything in the game, because they can go to a different planet. For me the thing I am most excited about is the possibility of extremely difficult puzzle gameplay. Not all the time of course, but there is a chance for it here. Say there is a planet with a temple. A really big one maybe. Lots of shininess. Unfortunately in order to enter adventurers must first solve a series of complex difficult puzzles. Now not everyone likes puzzles. No worries. Those people are missing out on anything, they can go to a different world and find a temple sans puzzles. YAY! However, I, being a puzzle fanatic, can dive in and waste hours of my day trying to solve the complex puzzles to enter the temple. This is fun for me, and I believe maybe for some other people as well. SO please. Take advantage of the fact that you can design this game for everyone instead of just a target audience and add in some puzzles. Simple, mediocre, and difficult if you like. A good mix, but at least have some. Additionally this could give you the chance to have a contest once the game comes out. You could create a specific planet that is designed to be a ridiculously hard puzzle planet, post the coordinates, and then the first person to tell you what the treasure found only after beating all the puzzles is, would win the contest. Just as an extra though.
Yes. Just yes to this one. Especially great if planets CAN have both puzzles, combat, trap dodging and everything else mixed as well. After all, that's what exploring and adventuring is. You fight your way through a horde of something, then find a door locked with a puzzle mechanism. When you open it, there's a corridor full of traps and so on. But finding either one on it's own would be great too. I myself am a universal players, so I can do both puzzles, combat and many other things. The best games have all things.
Well of course there would be a reward at the end. When I say you aren't missing out on anything I mean that you can probably find that same reward or a similar one on another planet that doesn't require puzzles. Or if you are referring to my contest idea, that would be only one planet in the entire universe and the coordinates would be shared so you would not go to that planet if you didn't want to. The chances of finding it on your own are pretty minimal. Thank you for your support of this idea. I know hardcore puzzles aren't for everyone, but there really is no reason not to include them for those of us who do like them. No lowest common denominator problems with this game.
I love the idea of puzzles. What sort of puzzles were you thinking? World puzzles? Puzzle Pirates styles puzzles? (Tesselating, shape sliding stuff), Mathmatical? Memory? Logic?
Yes to all. Though I feel every puzzle should be geared for starbound. So or instance maybe you have to translate an "ancient text" and this is essentially a cryptogram type puzzle. A more appropriate fit for most of the gameplay would probably be labyrinths, sliding puzzles, complex machines that require sequential actions to operate, doors that open through some kind of memory or logic problem. I also support the idea of some of these puzzles requiring multiple people to do. Like requiring different switches to be stood on at the same time, etc... If it can be thought of it should be a puzzle in the game.
If they were extremely difficult I would rage and possibly blow up the planet or burn it to ashes.. I really like this idea now.
Yeah so I guess it offers some new roleplaying options this way. You can't get the valuable treasure found on a planet? THEN NOONE ELSE WILL EITHER!!!!
While it's a neat idea in theory, the problem starts to build up to feature creep. Starbound is primarily an exploration/survival/building game. If you add too much else, it stops being Starbound and becomes a horrible amalgamation of a bunch of different games - an exploration/survival/building/horror/action/adventure/action-adventure/puzzle/platformer/shooter/RPG/RTS/MMO/racing/casual/sports/microgames/hack 'n slash/god knows what else game. (Obviously I'm exaggerating, but I think it makes my point.) A big part of the problem with this suggestion is that you're asking for it to be a big part of the game. I mean, in order for you to find one of these puzzle game planets, I'd guess you'd want at least 5% - 10% of planets to have this feature. (If it were too much lower, you'd barely find any.) This means that the devs would have to come up what's basically another game in itself for a fraction of the main game. If you have simple puzzles, that's much more realistic. It probably won't be as awesome as you're thinking, but it's a good enough compromise to keep Starbound within its own genre. For example, in Minecraft, there's Jungle Temples that you can find randomly in the jungle biomes. Inside the temple are three levers that, when pulled in the correct sequence, open up a secret door that [usually] has cool stuff in it. There's also a few traps in the temple to make it interesting. It's always the same puzzle, so after you've seen a couple of them, the novelty wears off; even so, it's a way to put a little puzzle into the game without changing the fact that Minecraft is a survival game. If you can somehow figure out how to get over that hurdle, this is a great idea! I'd support a little variety in planet theme.
I definitely see your point about feature creep, however, I have to respectfully disagree. Although it is certainly a problem if a game tries to be too many things at once, Starbound is already overcoming that hurtle in it's very design. This is already an Science Fiction, Exploration, Survival, Building, Platformer, RPG, Sandbox game. Every planet is completely different in the biomes, creatures, difficulty level, etc... that it contains. So the issue of feature creep is already legitimately a concern and yet with how the game handles these things, it is unlikely to cause a problem for anyone. Afterall, no one on the forum has said please scale it back. Of course, yes there is always the chance that this would be the straw to break the camel's back. I can see why you are concerned. I do, however, believe it is important to consider the feature we are discussing though. Some additions are more out of place than others. If a superhero theme party has 10 people dressed as Marvel Comic Superheroes and 1 DC comic Superhero walks in, well the party is now just superheroes instead of Marvel Superheroes. Not a huge change. If a person shows up dressed as Little Bo Peep, well then, that is a different story. Obviously it does not fit. What's my point? Puzzles are an already existing inclusion in the following genres of games, books, shows, and movies: Science Fiction, Exploration, Adventure, Platformer, and RPGS. These are all words that can describe Starbound. Due to the fact that Puzzles are such a common inclusion in all of these genres, I believe it does not harm the game in the slightest to include them. Nor is it necessary for these puzzles to be a world wide feature on planets they are found on. Even if the entrance to just a few temples or underground chasms, or what have you require a little strategic though, it would be a massive improvement. The developers could design 3 or 4 puzzles, with some features that can be adequately randomized, and then have them randomly placed in the universe during planet creation. Now you will find a puzzle maybe even only 2-5% of the time, and after a couple of them it will be familiar, however, with just 3 or 4 types and some randomness in the specifics it is unlikely to get terribly boring. This would be enough for me upon release. In the future a puzzle upgrade could be released with a few more puzzles and some greater difficulties. The puzzles could match the difficulty of the world they are on so that players won't be annoyed to find a super difficult puzzle on their bunny and rainbow planet and I think it can only help enhance the game. If I have to settle for simple puzzles to start with that's fine, but I really don't see any major reasons not to include puzzles of some kind.
